Not Everything Should Be a Moral Reckoning

Over the weekend, NBC announced that Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, will host the next episode of Saturday Night Live. This decision makes business sense, because Musk has a large fan base. It makes creative sense, too: His eccentricity is good fodder for sketch comedy.

But critics began objecting on moral grounds, first on social media, where some adopted the hashtag #boycottSNL, then in the press, where progressive anger on Twitter is often covered as news. Such, , and beyond. The journalist Jenelle Riley declared herself “beyond disappointed in SNL,” citing Musk against the interests of investors and the health of Tesla employees during the pandemic. Sarah T. Roberts, an information-studies professor at UCLA, that is “promoting a dangerous know-nothing who already has a massive unearned bully pulpit,” adding, “Did he really deserve the reputation laundering?” You’d have thought that Musk had been tapped to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom, rather than to perform in silly sketches with Pete Davidson.